Linda Teer

For 21 Years, She’s Made a Difference

Linda Teer has seen a lot of changes in the 21 years she has been with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Arkansas.

And to her, the constant changing needed to meet the future needs of a relatively small nonprofit organization is her greatest challenge.

During Teer’s 16 years as executive director, Big Brothers/Big Sisters has averaged 7 percent growth in yearly revenue.

Teer became interested in social programs in high school. After college, she went to work for the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

At DHS, she said, “I never had the feeling that what we did changed lives, only maintained them.”

It was while she was with DHS that she encountered Big Brothers/Big Sisters, which then only served boys. Her initial contact with the organization was a young boy’s mother, who told her, “It would be nice for him to see someone shave something beside legs.”

The mission of Big Brothers/Big Sisters appealed to Teer, who grew up in a single-parent family and knows such families’ needs – including the need for positive role models for youths.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters affects lives, she said.

“It’s difficult for single-parent households. A lot of kids don’t have a vision for themselves. They don’t know what to expect, no job skills. Big Brothers/Big Sisters gives them an opportunity to see successful people. The difficult part is that we can’t change them all,” she said.

Teer supervises a staff of 14 and about 350 volunteers who serve 400 children each year.

Her goal is to continue to maintain the program’s quality and expand its services. For Teer, career success and the success of Big Brothers/Big Sisters are the same.

She’s forced to wear many hats – fund-raising, program development, volunteer recruitment and client outreach – but she said the secret of her success is that she never gives up.

“I see each day as an opportunity to make a difference,” she said.